WHILST the student may profitably employ himself in attempting minor trifles—initials, copies of anything within his reach, or his own ideas; to acquire proficiency in the art, it is requisite to employ a master to direct his taste on the one hand, and to lead him on step by step to perfection, on the other. It would be highly essential to him to study the ancient missals, so as to enable him to distinguish the progress the art has made in various countries and in different ages. It is a field for deep research and study, to note the different styles adopted at different epochs, from the crude development of art of the fifth and sixth centuries, to the refined and exquisite productions of the Italian and Flemish schools of the fourteenth century, and again down to the inferior and flimsy style of Louis Quatorze. It is from the study of these, that his own ideas will be developed and improved, and that his modern notions of beauty and effect may be advantageously thrown in, to produce original and classical productions, abandoning that which is absurd and meaningless, and substituting that which is rational, effective, and beautiful. The pedantic absurdity of retaining any class of ornamentation, solely because it was used in the early ages by our ancestral predecessors, on account of their notions of drawing and perspective being imperfect, is as rational, as it would be for the vigorous offspring of a lame parent to use crutches and insist on walking lamely; and whilst we may justly admire the ingenuity of their efforts in producing the historic records of their skill, we may, at least, elevate our taste in improving on that which plainly bears the stamp of their imperfections. In composing a drawing, the student should select the style of a certain period, to which throughout he should strictly adhere, as the adoption of different styles in the same drawing is both inconsistent, and evinces bad taste; to mix up the Gothic with the Louis Quatorze, or the Elizabethan with the Italian style, would simply be absurd. The writing of the text, the initial letters, the ornaments, costume, armory, etc., all should partake of the corresponding epoch. Illustrations also should be introduced according to the subject, and the ornamentations be also adapted to, and harmonize with, the whole. If, for instance, it was determined on to illuminate the Creed or the Lord's Prayer, pictures might be introduced illustrative of the lives of the Saviour and the Apostles, historical and pictorial illustrations of the Christian creed, etc. If a secular subject from Milton, Shakespeare, or Byron, the same rule should be adopted. The "Lines on a Skull" from Byron might happily be illustrated with emblems of mortality, whilst the numerous episodes to be gleaned from the immortal pages of our great dramatist, Shakespeare, furnish an almost inexhaustible spring of truth and beauty, from which the young illuminator may draw his subjects for illustration; great liberty being allowed for embodying the imaginations of the poet with his own, and affording ample opportunities and material for the exercise of his inventive powers as an illustrator, thereby evincing a decided stamp of reflective genius. Above all, never attempt to illustrate a common-place subject, or defective and puerile poetry; it is not worth the pains of a single daub of colour.

In arranging a subject for illumination, I should first draw my attention to the initial letter at the head of the text. There are thousands of specimens in the British Museum; and many publications of alphabets are in existence, very useful for the beginner; these may be varied, or strictly copied at pleasure.[D] Colours may be changed, scrolls or foliage altered, taking care that alterations are judiciously made, and really improve the general effect. The initial letter being settled on (which should, if possible, in some manner bear on the subject-matter of the poem or episode), I would recommend next, to write the text in old English, or Church Text, each line being ruled-in equi-distant, and the capitals left blank, to be painted in afterwards; and where a word at the end of a line is so short as not to fill up close to the margin let the space be filled up with a small ornament in some colour; where a word is to be prominent, write it in gold, or red, or a different colour to the general body of the text; when the writing is completed, I would arrange the border, one side of which may be double the width of the other, the bottom also wider than the top; if pictures are to be introduced, sketch out a proper framework first for their reception. These arrangements form the groundwork of the drawing; scrollwork may then be introduced, beginning at some corner, or springing from the framework of the intended picture; when that is nicely arranged, the same scroll might be repeated, upwards or sideways by transferring the tracings; the intervening spaces, if too naked, can be filled up with flowers, taking care that, in the reduction of the size of the flowers, they each shall preserve a relative proportion to the other, equal to the scale to which they are reduced; this is very essential. If any insects are introduced, this rule should also be observed. It would look very ridiculous that a butterfly, fluttering over a rose, should be as large or larger than the rose itself, or that a caterpillar should assume the size of a conger eel in proportion to the size of a heart's ease introduced in the same drawing; one's natural judgment will suggest such faults as absurd, and they should be avoided. If the border is to remain transparent, lighter ornamentations may be introduced to fill up the blanks; and finally, all the white parts may be covered by thousands of little dots, in colour and gold, taking care that in size and distance they are all alike; this last process can be effected either with the brush or fine steel pen, as best suited to the ability of the pupil; if it should be determined on to fill up the blanks with a solid background of gold, the spaces need not be crowded too profusely with small details, since the filling up of the gold would become tedious. If solid, a white line of equal distance may be preserved round every object in the border: these lines should be drawn round carefully first (not too wide), and afterwards filled up solid. This white edging forms a very soft and pleasing appearance in the drawing. If the gold is closely to fill up against the scroll or flowers, you may throw a strong shadow under it on the gold, by which means the ornaments will appear to stand out in bold relief, and be very effective, taking care that the shadows are properly thrown on, and always according to the strict rules of drawing.[E] The solid part, instead of gold or silver, may also be made of a light tint, such as a pink, or light blue, or deep purple, or even black; in which case the same colours in deeper tint, with solution of gum arabic may be used, this will throw up the shadow more perfectly; the solid parts should then be scrolled over with close and fine ornamentations of permanent white or gold on the black background. As the varieties of effect are so very numerous, I think it best to leave the judgment of the pupil unfettered, to suggest the varieties himself, or to consult the various specimens in the manuscript room of the British Museum. A very effective mode of painting pictorial illustrations (known by the name of Cameo painting) may also be resorted to, viz., to draw a subject for illustration or a group of figures, all in one colour, including the background, say blue, the outlines are given on the side where the light falls, in gold; on the shaded side, with a deeper blue, the lights are gradually tinted over with gold, and the shadows shaded in with darker blue. This mode of introducing pictures was very prevalent in the Italian missals of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; and I have seen them executed in every colour, with very good effect.